How are things waves?

Isn't a wave just a motion of something?
Like a water wave.. it's a bunch of h2o molecules flowing in waveform..
And lightwaves.. particles of light traveling in waveform.. right??
But why do we talk about waves as if it's the thing, itself?
I'm not sure what a sound wave is though.. like what... show more Isn't a wave just a motion of something?

Like a water wave.. it's a bunch of h2o molecules flowing in waveform..

And lightwaves.. particles of light traveling in waveform.. right??

But why do we talk about waves as if it's the thing, itself?

I'm not sure what a sound wave is though.. like what is sound? We hear the vibration of the waves... It travels in the waves... But what would be the particle for sound that travels in waves..??

I'm confused about this whole thing.

Update: "Yes, yes you are very confused."
And so are you, since you're unable to shed any light on the subject. Stop pretending that pointing out what others don't know equals you knowing something. You obviously don't.
"Light has properties both a particle and a wave."
That's what... show more "Yes, yes you are very confused."

And so are you, since you're unable to shed any light on the subject. Stop pretending that pointing out what others don't know equals you knowing something. You obviously don't.

"Light has properties both a particle and a wave."

That's what sparked this question, and you've shared nothing enlightening.

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Best Answer: Classically, light is a combined wave in an electric field and a magnetic field where essentially the motion in each field causes motion in the other. it is a sort of self perpetuating pair of waves that can travel indefinitely in a vacuum until they encounter matter.

The whole wave / particle quantum business is a different more fundamental model of light from which the classical view emerges at larger scales. It is pointless to try and explain quantum theory in a few lines but the wave part more or less describes the probability of where a particle could be and the particle part is that ultimately a particle of light will turn up in random a location determined by the probability wave. The medium for the probability wave of light seems to be just space itself (or spacetime).

A wave is not particles moving in a shape of a wave. Think of a rope held by two people. One moves his end up and down. This starts a wave moving down the rope. Parts of the rope just move up and down, but no part of it moves from one end to the other. It is the same with water waves and sound waves and all waves. No material moves along with the wave. The material only oscillates or vibrates in place as the wave passes.

A wave is a pair of different types of ENERGY where the energy transfers from one to the other both with time and with position.
So that the energy moves from one place to another but nothing else needs to move.

In sound the two energies are PRESSURE and KINETIC ENERGY.
Air molecules move a little which creates a difference in air pressure locally. That creates kinetic energy elsewhere which creates air pressure which creates........ and so the wave continues to move.

I'm not an expert or anything but I think that a wave is maybe small thing coming together to form a bigger thing like u said a water wave is a bunch of h20 molecules coming together to form a bigger thing idk tho this is just my thoughts

Yes, yes you are very confused. You might need to take a basic course in Physics rather than trying to use the internet. Light has properties of a particle and a wave, that might start you in a better direction. Try to stay away from say string theory and such.